The Star Crossed Lovers
by Zoran Prower
Summary: Those who are Star Crossed are set on a path that leads to doom... but can Tails and Cosmo do anything about their fate? Can love conquer fate? Please Read and Review, and you'll find out...
1. Chapter 1

♥ **The Star-Crossed Lovers** ♥

Chapter 1: The Nightmare

**A/N: (Note that all characters in this story are two years older. Neither Cream nor Zoran (My Original Character) are set to appear. They'll make an amusing appearance at the very, very end.)**

**And remember, those who are Star-Crossed are set for a tragic fall…**

Lightning struck down from the sky, its splendor flashing in the sky. Yet the thunder did not wake the orange fox in the room, despite his terrible fear of it. Tails was sleeping deeply indeed, and he was dreaming a very disturbing dream.

In his dream, he saw what looked like an insane bear looking at them, a terrible evil smile on his face. Tails tried to move, but he saw there were titanium chains on his feet and hands, which were on the wall. Titanium was lighter than steel, but much stronger, and Tails knew he wouldn't be able to break out of these chains. Tails saw the mad creature move its vile lips, but he couldn't hear anything. When the creature moved out of his view, he saw his beloved Cosmo on the other side, chained to the wall as well, powerless to do anything, and she wasn't awake. "Cosmo!" he tried to cry, but to no avail, as for she was unconscious.

In the center of the room, Tails noticed a silver spinning dagger. It spun faster and faster and faster, and the faster it spun, the louder he could hear the bear's terrible laughter. It was as if terror had seized his heart, as cold as death's horrifying hand, slowly reaching out and ripping it from his chest…

The dagger spun faster, faster, faster, until it finally stopped suddenly, pointing straight at him.. The anthropomorphic (humanoid) bear roared with an even worse laugh than before, and grabbed the dagger from the table, and got prepared to throw it straight at the young fox's innocent heart.

At last, Cosmo awoke, but alas, it was to see the last thing she would want to see. Tails closed his eyes and heard her scream, before opening them and seeing the dagger leave the bear's hand in a flash, and seeing the dagger protrude from his own heart… He fell to the ground, and the world seemed to spin…

Tails awoke sweat all over his face. He had fallen asleep while working on one of his inventions again. "I knew I shouldn't have stayed up so late." He berated himself. At least he had gotten some rest.

Cosmo then walked in the room, with her usual grand splendor. She had brought the young fox some breakfast. "Oh, I told you not to stay up so late Tails." She reminded him. "I know you're working so hard, but you should get some rest too."

"I know." He replied. "Thanks for bringing me breakfast." Cosmo lovingly gave him a kiss before leaving the room.

Tails thought on the nightmare. Bear, dagger, death. It was all meaningless. There was no bear in the area. He had nothing to fear. Yet still fear was gripping him. To try to ease his fear, he set himself to adding modification to the plane, and it slowly did release his fear.

The disturbing dream had almost left his mind, hours later, while he was happily working on the plane, until Sonic came rushing into the room. "You won't believe what is happening out there! There's some bear trying to control the city. He's as stupid as Eggman!"

Tails didn't hear anything else, but some bear… _"There's some bear…" "There's some bear…"_ The words echoed in his mind, and terror once again, seized his heart.

**A/N I know my chapters are short right now, but I'll try to make them longer later. Please Read and Review**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

**A/N: the first four chapters are fairly short, so bear with me. Chapter 5 is quite long, and you'll see the difference when I post it here.**

The terrible nightmare came rushing into Tails' mind as Sonic told his grim tale. Apparently there was humanoid bear attacking with a small army. There was hardly any resistance being put up, not after the bear had shown what it could do.

Sonic however, dismissed the risks, as usual. A challenge was a challenge worth going for. "Let's take the X-Tornado and explore the city, eh?" He asked him.

Tails, feeling a bit hesitant, but never less agreed with Sonic in that they needed to take action, and thus, the plane was up in the air a few moments later. It never ceased to amaze Tails how awesome it felt to be so high up in the air.

The plane rushed into the city, and in no time at all they saw the bear and its small attack force. They were armed with some type of blaster, firing lasers very quickly. Before the bear's forces could turn around and begin firing, Tails quickly fired his torpedoes, which quickly sent some of the attacking force blinding, and covering the rest in smoke.

Their attack seemed to be working. About half of them were retreating, or were, until the bear creature yelled at them to come back. "Fire the plasma rockets!" The bear yelled.

"Watch your left, Tails!" Sonic yelled in warning. He barely avoided the first two, but the third grazed his wing. Worse yet, the bear picked up one of the plasma rocket launchers, and fired it himself. His aim, unlike his forces, was extremely accurate, and the next two shots hit the other wing.

"We're going down, Sonic," Tails shouted to him. Sonic went on the wing, and jumped off the plane, to the nearest building, and then went to subdue the bear's forces.

Tails meanwhile, needed to crash land extremely carefully; else, he would be gone with the plane. Seeing a nearby forest, he tried with all his might to land there, but to no avail. Finally, right when he thought there was no hope, the plane gave a jerk west, and he crashed into the trees.

Meanwhile, Sonic found that the bear's forces have disappeared. Cosmo, Knuckles, and Amy ran up to him. "Did you get that bear?" Knuckles asked him.

"No, he managed to shoot us down. I jumped off the plane before Tails crashed landed it somewhere."

"Are you going to search for him?" Cosmo asked worriedly.

Sonic nodded. Knuckles looked at the damage the bear caused in the city. "And I'll track down that bear. He won't get away with this!"

**A/N: Tails may have crashed, but I tell you now, he is still alive.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

**A/N: (To all TailsxCosmo fans…) have you guys heard of the Tails and Cosmo shrine? If you like the pairing, you really should join; it could use some more members. Anyone can join, even if you don't really like it that much, but for as long as you don't dislike it.**

Miles opened his eyes slowly, still unmoving on the ground. When he looked around he heard a bird in a distant, screeching to its fellow fliers. He tried to lift up his head, and felt how weak he was. He turned his head, and then opened his mouth in horror.

The Plane was in a complete wreck, though the fire was now out. He mustered all of his strength, stood up, and ran toward the plane. Yes! It was still repairable, but he would need some parts of other wrecked planes, which was perhaps nearly hopeless. He sighed, and checked to make sure the engine was in still good condition.

Fortunately the engine was not scratched, but it was low on fuel, and the plane was low on power. When he retreated from the plane, he heard footsteps, slowly, and stealthily approaching him. He turned around in fear, and then turned another way.

The noise was coming from the trees, but there were trees everywhere, then it seemed to be coming from the bushes, but that was everywhere too. His heart began to beat faster, sweat began to trickle down his face, and scariest of all, he still could figure where the creature was.

Fortunately, he remembered that there are things a nose can do that eyes and ears cannot. The smell came to him n a strong waft, smelling like it had lived in a jungle all its life. He turned toward the scent, and trembling fearfully, boldly stated, "Come out, if you are a friend, but if you are a foe, I'll have no quarrel with you." He wouldn't stand a chance anyway. Not for long, anyway.

"This is a friend, stalking you in the shadows silently, trying to learn why you are here." The voice within the forest replied. "But alas, I underestimated your nose, but that shan't happen again. The great Rosaline will not do so again this time."

The creature appeared from the woods. It was a humanoid white tiger, and what surprised Tails most was that it was here. Most of her species lived up in the mountains, and even the humanoid tigers usually preferred to live away from civilization. But it could explain why she was in the forest.

"May I ask your name, young fox?" Rosaline asked him. "It's been quite a while since I've seen anyone here. Huh, the last person that crashed here just ran away. Poor them, I didn't see them again, or at least not until I saw their remains. They fell off a cliff, the idiots. Golly, can't they see anything?"

"My name is Miles Prower, but everyone just calls me Tails." He told her modestly.

"Tails?" She replied incredulously. "What kind of name is that? I was expecting something much grander. Still, a name isn't everything I suppose. But golly, that name is so boring. Not to mention that it is very unoriginal. Don't you know how many snakes have been called Tails? There are even snakes with two tails, or even two heads, or two head and tails for that matter. You know how many foxes have more than one tail? Several. But there are almost none, if any, nine tailed foxes right now. Hmm, I would love to see a fox with a tenth one."

She kept rambling and rambling on. If the conversation was completely told here, it would take another tow paragraphs. Fortunately, she was interrupted by a rumble in the forest, and Tails was spared from the lengthy conversation. "The Gorlock's cry!" She yelled. She turned to Tails. "Quickly, we must hide, and you must stay silent. And watch the ground, the Gorlock's feet point backwards! Move quickly, if you value your life. By the tiger's claw, today is the day the Gorlock shall fall!


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

**A/N: (If you haven't figured out that Rosaline is crazy, then I'm telling you right now, she is CRAZY!)**

If there was anything worse than hearing a tiger talk all day, it was the sight of the Gorlock. They had hidden within some shrubs, but that hadn't stopped Tails heart from jumping up and down inside of him. Yet the sound of the Gorlock's feet made him tremble. It was a huge creature, about seven feet tall, and seven feet long. When Tails looked at its feet, he saw that they pointed backwards. Scariest of all, was that it seemed to be looking their way…

Meanwhile…

The search for Tails had been to no avail. They hadn't found even a trace of him in the city, nor in the outskirts of the nearby forest. Worst yet, the bear had announced that he planned to rid the world of all anthropomorphic beings that did not join him.

The interesting thing was that no one was taking him seriously. Still, what made him even more frustrated was how much Sonic mocked his plan, and thus we go to the action, in front of the city hall, where the bear, who had now revealed his name as Bronx, was standing on the highest. Sonic, Amy, Cosmo, and Knuckles all stood at the lowest steps.

"How can you stand there like that and not quiver and fear, when your lives are all in jeopardy?" He asked incredulously.

"How can you stand up there, when you seem to have no one supporting your plan of power?" Sonic replied mockingly.

The bear smiled sinisterly. "Oh, all we have to do is pluck you, one at a time, starting… with the weakest!"

All of a sudden Sonic heard a scream, and noticed several mean armed with lasers attempting to capture them! Of course Sonic was too fast, and easily evaded capture, but then he noticed that Amy and Cosmo weren't so lucky. They had grabbed both of them and stuffed them in a crate, and locked it tight. Before Sonic could run and save them, one of the men had thrown Knuckles straight at him, knocking him to the ground. By the time they had gotten up, they were all gone, as if they were never there.

**A/N: Sorry if this chapter's short. This will very likely be the last short chapter. Chapter 5 is about three times longer, for your comfort.**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

The Gorlock hunters

**A/N: I've been trying to complete Balthazar's storm, so this one has seen little updates. Now that I've finished writing the final chapters for it, it's time to start working on this one more, so updates will appear more frequently.**

Rosaline and Tails watched the Gorlock in silence. "It's bound to go away eventually." Tails took out a laser from his pocket. It was surprising that it still was intact after the crash. He toyed with it in his hand. He wouldn't know whether the energy cells worked however, until he fired, which was something he wasn't very eager to do.

"Isn't there a way to shoo or take down this thing?" Miles asked, and Rosaline perked up.

"Of course there is, if you have some type of weapon to kill it. However, I lost my rapier. Do you want to know what happened to it? That Gorlock ate it! That clever and cruel beast. I can't believe he was able to do such a thing, can you?"

Tails sighed. "The Gorlock's hide seems tough, but I should have enough energy in my blaster to fry him. But I need you to distract him." Rosaline took a look at Tail's blaster, and then nodded eagerly.

"You can count on me!" She replied, and for the first time, she didn't continue on, glorifying herself. She probably would when the Gorlock fell.

Tails took out another laser from his other pocket, and watched Rosaline run out and start yelling at the Gorlock. "Over here, over here." The Gorlock turned, and charged at her.

Tails took his chance, dived out from the bushes, and fired his blasters with a fury. The best went down in seconds. Relieved, he walked toward Rosaline, who was rejoicing with success.

"I did it! I did it! Did you see how I tricked the Gorlock! Got him good too, very good. We make a great team, don't we Tails? We sure do!" Suddenly she stopped her exclamations, and stood fearfully in a direction. There was a plane landing down where they were at. When it landed, three armed men exited. One was a lion, one was a panther, and Tails guessed the last one was a leopard.

"So, Rosaline, having a good time out here?" They were armed with guns. Perhaps they were trying to hunt the Gorlock. They stared at the dead Gorlock. "You didn't kill it, did you? You never had the courage for it."

"Oh, shut up Tom. It's dead, can't you see. Someone had killed it." She looked at him coldly. "What do you want?"

Tails looked at the plane. All the parts he would need to fix his own were right there. He knew, however, that the pack Rosaline was talking to certainly wouldn't give them up.

"We want to teach you a lesson when you take our prey." They answered, and they approached dangerously close to Rosaline. Rosaline did not step back.

Right before they could pounce on her, Tails fired. The first blast singed one of the men's shoulders, but Tails was careful not to aim to kill. Rosaline, taking her chance, knocked the panther's head with her own, causing him to fall on the ground unconscious. Tails fired another bolt at the lion's legs, stunning him. Before any of them could recover, Tails and Rosaline quickly tied a rope around them, tying them to a tree.

"You won't get away with this, Rosaline!" The Lion cried. Tails looked at their claws.

"They could cut out of the ropes, couldn't they?" He asked Rosaline.

Rosaline nodded. "They won't however. Not when I'm watching them. Tails handed her a blaster.

"To keep you safe, you know." Rosaline smiled at him.

"Thanks Tails, and I'll use it honorable and bravely against my foes in battle!" Tails quickly left to get the parts to fix his plane before Rosaline started running her mouth like an engine again.

It didn't take long. In about an hour, he had all the necessary parts he needed. Rosaline quickly ran to Tails. "I hear another Gorlock coming. They're probably going to untie themselves, but I'm going to let them do it." She smiled mischievously. "They won't even know what got them."

Sure enough, another Gorlock came, chasing the three cats. "Keep running!" One of them cried.

"I'm going my fastest!" The panther yelled back. Their screams could be heard through the entire forest.

Rosaline waved to Tails as he started up his plane's engine. He carefully flew away from the trees, and waved to his friend Rosaline. He picked up altitude and sighed. Perhaps he would meet her again. And he would "meet" her again, just not in a condition where one can say hello.

It wasn't much later that he arrived in his laboratory's runway. He made a swift landing, and looked around. No one was nearby. And at that moment, Tails knew something was wrong. The lab itself was too quiet…

He looked around for a few seconds, turning every few seconds, terrified. Suddenly, someone came up behind him, but before he could make out who it was, he was in darkness…

**A/N: Finally, some good old suspense**.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

**A/N: Thank you, reviewers. You probably don't know this, but this is truly the first fan-fiction story that I began writing. I can't believe I didn't finish it before I started my other one, but that is perhaps because I planned the second one better. I finally finished the plan for this one. After this chapter, the story will get darker and more perilous. Read with care… reader.**

What had Sonic been doing at the time? Desperately searching for Amy and his friends. Knuckles had searched the other areas of town, but to no avail.

Yet he had never given up searching for Tails. Yet Knuckles had already given up. "He's either dead, Sonic, or far out of reach. There's nothing we can do for him." Sonic got angry every time he said this.

They had met near the place of Amy's and Cosmo's capture. "We've looked everywhere!" Sonic stated to Knuckles, exasperated. "Where could Bronx be hiding?"

"I don't know, but he's not going to show his face here until you've been dealt with. He can't seem to win on the city." Knuckles replied.

An idea came to Sonic. It was possible… "What about the sewers, Knuckles? Did you ever check there?"

"Why would I check there? Who would go there? Only vermin live down there." He looked at Sonic. "Why?"

"You said it yourself. Vermin live down there." Knuckles still didn't get it. "Knuckles, Bronx is the vermin." He still didn't get it. "Knuckles, we're going into the sewers to go after him."

Knuckles did get this. "Finally, some action!" Sonic smiled. They found the nearest entrance to the sewers they could, and they opened the lid, slowly descending into the darkness.

(… At the same time…)

Someone else had their darkness lifted. Tails opened his eyes, but he did not need to open them. Tails knew he was rapidly approaching his destiny… he knew where he was being taken… but he did not know exactly what place this was.

It looked as if he was underground… but it smelled extremely disgusting down there. Perhaps it was a sewer? Tails noticed one of his captors trying to see if he had awaken yet. Tails quickly shut his eyes tight, as for he had a feeling nothing good would come if he was caught with them open.

"Is he awake yet? I'm tired of dragging him to the boss's chamber." One of his captors complained. "Can't you carry him?"

"Oh, shut it, will you? We're already a bit behind schedule. Let's just drag him over there and we're done with him." The other captor told him.

"Why did Bronx have us keep an eye out for him?" The captor asked curiously, and Tails perked up a bit, wanting to listen in. "I mean, it was pretty easy to capture him, with him going to his house and all, but why did he want us to capture him?"

"It all beats me, Daniel. But I wouldn't ask Bronx. He's gotten pretty angry over that hedgehog lately."

Tails was being taken to Bronx, the bear who had made him crash. Hopefully, Bronx hadn't hurt any of his friends during his absence.

His nightmare was slowly coming true… he knew it. But he could you fight fate? Tails felt hopeless. He then wondered what happened to the others while he was away. Had they retreated? Were they fighting above? Were they dead, injured, or captured? Tails knew nothing, and he hated it.

Tails heard a door open, and he couldn't help but open his eyes. The bear was smiling oddly when they entered with him. Tails didn't bother to close his eyes again, it would be difficult to feign unconsciousness in the brightly lit room. "_So, this is Bronx's lair."_ Tails thought to himself. "_Fitting."_

The guards threw him on the ground, and then Bronx signaled them to leave. Then he turned all his attention to Tails. "Welcome, but don't get too comfortable for long. I have a prophecy to fulfill!"

Tails was bewildered. Had Bronx gone mad? "What are you talking about?" Tails asked. Surely Bronx must have misunderstood something.

"You don't know, do you?" Bronx asked him, before laughing madly. "It is written all over you. You and your flower are Star-Crossed! I dreamed it! I was told this would happen! My own oracle told me this! But this means nothing to you, does it? It doesn't matter. You will be dead soon

Tails understood, and he felt grim on the inside. Bronx's oracle had the same vision he had. He was really going to die, while Cosmo helplessly watched. "Take him to the cages! I will deal with him shortly!"

Tails was being dragged to his death, and he knew it…

(Elsewhere in the sewers…)

"Sonic, where do we go? We're completely lost, how do we know where to go?" Knuckles asked him.

Sonic went by his instinct. "This way!" He cried, before charging into the darkness…

"Hold on guys, we're coming for you!" Sonic shouted, before he quickly grew quiet. There were guards nearby. Bronx's lair was near…

"This complicates things…" Sonic said to Knuckles.

"On the contrary…" Knuckles replied, fists up. "This simplifies things…" Without hesitation, Knuckles ran out, and charged right into battle.

**A/N: Finally! Now you understand why I said "Star-Crossed." Can Tails really avoid his doomed fate? Wait and see….**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

**A/N: The story doesn't get any happier, I'm afraid. Fortunately I don't plan to use the events in this story and include them in the Tails Epic, which will be my longest and greatest fan-fiction story that will tell Tails' life.**

While the guards were taking him into his cell, he looked around him. He noticed Amy, pacing around in her cage, taken aback when she saw him in his shackles. She was taken aback. He was just lost, but now he was hardly in a better position than before…

He had hoped that he'd be put in a cell near Amy, but he knew that wouldn't happen. Everything had to occur to the dream he had, to the vision Bronx had. So when they finally opened the door, Tails recognized everything in the room.

It was like a torture chamber, with all sorts of things in the room. Electrical weapons to shock the victim, a plasma torch to burn the victim, and in the middle of the table, a dagger, in which Tails knew would kill the victim.

The dagger was what would kill him.

Just like in his dream, Cosmo was unconscious in her cell. She would not awaken until it was too late… the guards threw him into his cage, and he slammed against the bars, and the cage door closed. Out of no where, chains enclosed his hands and legs, locking him in place.

What use was resisting? He just sat there in place. Death would come. Tails wished he had a clock in the room to count his last seconds… but there was one thing he wanted to do before he died, he wanted to look at every aspect of Cosmo's face, and remember why he loved her…

(Meanwhile…)

Knuckles and Sonic's surprise attack seemed to have succeeded, at least initially. But before either of them could utter a sigh of relief, another squad came, well armed, and already firing them at first sight.

They barely managed to get behind a wall, when they heard gun fire being fired back at them. "What in the world's going on?" Knuckles said.

Sonic shrugged his shoulders. "Beats me."

They turned around slowly. There, in front of them, was an entire squad of the government agents. One of them, a familiar looking bat, caught sight of them and gave them a wink.

"You're not the only ones after that bear." Rouge said to them. Sonic sighed in relief, thankful for her assistance.

"Rouge, can you and Knuckles look for Cosmo?" He asked her. "I'm going to go and find Amy." Rouge nodded, and motioned for Knuckles to come closer.

"Great, now she gets a piece of the action." Knuckles muttered to himself.

But Sonic was already racing off, silently, but still expeditiously. It would only be a matter of time before their extra time ran out…

(… In the torture chamber…)

But for Tails, time was already up. He had not even looked up when Bronx entered the room. He did not want to give his enemy any satisfaction.

Bronx laughed evilly at his indifference. Bronx spoke, but Tails refused to comprehend anything he said. Just like in the dream.

He knew next that he should cry his wife's name, but he did not want her to see this. No, not this. Bronx went to the center of the room, and spun the silver dagger.

It spun, and spun, and spun, and spun. Tails nearly laughed at himself. It seemed ridiculous that he was waiting for it to point toward him, because he knew it would.

But it did not point toward anyone, it pointed to the opposite side of Bronx. Disappointed, he spun again. Tails, a bit surprised, watched the silver dagger spin again, and again, and again…

He had anticipated for it to point toward him. He had already said his goodbyes.

But it did not.

It pointed toward Cosmo. The bear smiled evilly, picking the dagger up. No! This was not supposed to happen! It was supposed to be him! Tails would not let this happen!

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" He cried, terrified for her life. Cosmo opened her eyes, before her pupils grew large with terror as she saw the dagger in Bronx's hand.

The following actions are unexplainable. Where do you find strength when you had let go of all of it? After all, they were star-crossed. They were doomed to die.

But Tails broke through the chains, and amazingly knocked down the door. Bronx, surprised and terrified, did not hesitate as he turned around and threw the dagger at Tails.

But Tails was cunning, he quickly moved out of the way, though the dagger did sink deep into his arm. The pain was nothing to what he would feel if he failed to save his love…

With one amazing force, he punched Bronx straight in the face, and while Bronx was still recovering, pulled out the dagger from his arm and plunged it straight into his black heart. Bronx fell, dead on the ground.

The door to the room opened, and Knuckles and Rouge entered. They were surprised by the scene. There was, however, no time to explain. "Let's go," Tails said darkly. There was no gentleness in his voice.

He helped Cosmo up, but before any of them could move, a small group of guards entered, looking shocked by their master's death. Afraid, they quickly fired upon them.

The room was small, there was hardly anywhere to dodge. Taken aback, Rouge had taken several shots, and she fell to the ground. Her life had been snuffed.

"YOU!" Knuckles cried, as he charged at the guards. Afraid, they fired, and several shots missed. The few that hit could not bring him down.

He punched, smashing people's faces, slamming his fist into every inch of their bodies. No guard remained standing.

Knuckles panted, before falling to the ground. Tails and Cosmo, ducking underneath the table, ran toward him. Cosmo had taken a laser shot near her wrist, but it had just grazed it. Tails' arm was still bleeding, but he ignored it as he bent down to his friend.

Knuckles looked toward him. "I'd rather die here, with her…" He told him. "I won't make it anyway, I'd slow you down, and then none of us would make it out alive." He coughed blood, and tears were going down Cosmo's eyes at the sight.

"But Knuckles…" Knuckles shook his head at Tails' plead, already having made his decision. Stubborn to the end…

"Both of you, just leave me and get out of here alive! Tails, guard Cosmo with your life. Do not fail her as I did to Rouge…" He sighed, slowly closing his eyes. Yet when Tails thought him for dead, his final words came out his mouth. "You know… I never told her what I felt toward her…"

The strength in Knuckle's hands were gone, they were cold and lifeless…

Tails stood up, grabbing Cosmo's hand and rushing out of the room. There would be a time to grieve… but this dark place was not the place for it…

**A/N: Fellow readers, the story is still going down a sad, dark road… **


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

Each and every turn Tails knew could be their last. He took one turn, and saw a battle going on between Bronx's forces and the city's officials. Another held no life, dead bodies of enemies and allies lying on the floor, blood still pouring fresh from their bodies.

Death was all over this dark place.

He took another turn, and stopped cold. He had moved a bit too noisily and quickly, a guard was already pointing a laser at him.

Tails blinked, intending it to be his last, as he firmly took hold of Cosmo's hand.

Yet it was not. Just before the guard could pull the trigger, a blue blur rushed past him, and the weapon fell out of his hand. Another second later, and the guard was unconscious.

"That was close!" Sonic said. Amy was right behind him, making sure the guard was unresponsive.

"Sonic, Amy!" Cosmo, said relieved.

They smiled. Tails was relieved to see his friends as well. But as his glanced at the ceiling, he knew they weren't out of danger yet. "Guys, we need to get out of here, fast!" Tails said. There are guards everywhere, Knuckles and Rouge are already dead, we could easily be next…"

They heard shots from behind him, and not looking back, the four ran forward. In truth, they could not fight such a large number. Tails saw a shot miss Cosmo by an inch, another miss himself by much less. Tails thought he could feel the heat emit from the shot.

They then came upon two turns. "Which way should we go?" Amy said.

"Right, of course!" Sonic said, and they raced that direction.

A moment later, they saw that it was the wrong direction.

An entire squadron of forces had blasters armed in hand. Sonic stepped up in front of them. "Tails, protect Amy." He whispered to him. Then he charged at the soldiers.

Caught off guard, they began firing everywhere. An explosion went off, and Tails saw pipes and water and blood everywhere…

"Come on, this way!" Tails said, ushering them to the left turn they had omitted. He grabbed Cosmo's hand and dragged Amy behind him.

"But what about Sonic?" She asked.

The smoke of the explosion cleared. Tails looked, and saw Sonic limping toward them. When he finally caught up to them, he smiled, before collapsing to the ground. Amy screamed, and Sonic looked up at his best friend, mouthing his final words.

"Do not forget my final wish, Tails…" He said, before his eyes never opened up again.

Tails could not help himself. The three broke down in tears. But the sounds of more guards told them to keep moving…

Tails knew however, that leaving would make no difference. Something had to be done…

Then the idea came. They were close to the exit, but perhaps Tails would never leave. The grim thought would not leave his mind.

"Guys, keep going, I've got to go back." He told them.

"But why?" Cosmo asked. "Tails, there's nothing back there for us!"

"Some one's got to finish this." Tails said. Some one would have to take over for Sonic.

Without another word, he turned back. "Tails, wait!" Cosmo cried.

"Just keep going, Cosmo and Amy." Tails said to them. "And if I don't return…"

But he did not finish. He ran back into the darkness he had despised, to finish once and for all Bronx's forces.

**A/N: There's 1 more chapter after this, and then an epilogue. A few more interesting things in the next chapter, so keep reading!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

Tails used to believe that nothing was worse than death. But he had forgotten, that there was something worse than death, much worse. And that was simply to witness it, without being able to stop it from happening.

How many times had that occurred today? One too many.

He noticed Sonic's corpse, and even in death, the hedgehog was free. Free to roam the clouds of heaven, to run in the realm of the dead.

Perhaps it would not be too bad to join him, should that happen to him himself.

The task that Tails had set himself out to do required supreme skill in physics, mechanics, and most importantly, a bit of luck with calculations. Because the tiniest margin of error could make everything go wrong.

Or, more wrong than it was already.

Corpses lay all over the complex of Bronx's soldiers, but Tails knew that Bronx's men outnumbered him to countless hundreds to one. They were probably debating on who should take over for Bronx. But if his plan went right, they would all either die or be captured.

He had remembered seeing the item in the jail room. Tails could imagine what it was used for, simply as a threat, because Bronx himself wouldn't dare to use it.

He entered the terrifying room, more terrifying now that he had escaped the torturous room than before. He saw Knuckle's own body, lying on the ground, and Rouge's. Perhaps in death, love would be together…

He looked at a far right corner, and there it was. A missile. A dangerously powerful missile. Tails had a feeling that it had a nuclear warhead on it, a weak but still devastating one.

Here was where luck came to play. If the missile was more powerful than he thought, the entire city would be destroyed, hundreds of innocents would die from the explosion, and hundreds more from radiation.

Tails could not calculate its vertical distance, and he could only help that its timer still functioned properly.

Using everything he knew, he quickly calculated and checked his calculations. It would likely launch out of the door, and many of Bronx's soldiers would die before they would know it even was launched… Tails did not like the idea of killing them, but he knew it was justified by his friend's death.

After calculating the velocity, acceleration, and force correctly, he knew he had everything he needed but the time.

Which he was about to set…

"There's an intruder!" Tails heard someone shout. Three guards were pointing blasters at him. Darn! The timer was already starting, and it wouldn't be enough time for him to get out. But then again, he was about to get shot anyway. Tails quickly backed behind the missile. Might as well have them destroy the missile now."

"You're right." Some said from behind them. The guards turned around, but only to be thrown backwards toward the wall. All three were unconscious.

The "Intruder" was a black hedgehog, its eye narrowed as he scanned the room.

"Tails?" It said to him.

"Shadow?" Tails said surprisingly. "Shadow! You've got to get out of here!"

"What? Why?"

"The missile! I've timed it to go off and destroy the complex, but the time's preset, I can't change it."

The hedgehog said nothing for several seconds, and Tails looked at the time slowly lower from four minutes to three.

"Then you must leave then."

"I don't have enough time, though!"

"Then I'll buy you the time. I'll delay the missile's explosion." Shadow said defiantly. Tails was shocked and awed.

"But then…"

"Then, you shall be free from the curse of the star-crossed."

"What? You knew, too?" Tails said, surprised.

"I didn't know soon enough, it seems. But go! There is no more time!"

With a single look back, Tails ran as fast as he could, disregarding any care of silence. Stealth would kill him, but it seemed speed might as well.

In a matter of seconds, Tails realized he had gone the wrong way.

He panicked. It was too late to turn back; he would have to hope this lead to a different exit…

"Hey, over here, friend!"

The voice sounded odd to him, and he didn't know whether to trust anything in the dark path. But what other choice was there?

He followed the voice, and was surprised to see that it was the tiger, Rosalinda. How long had she been under here? Wait, how did she even get there? Wait, what was she doing here?

"This is an odd place, don't you think?" She asked him. "I always wondered where this led. Do you live here?"

"What, no!" Tails said. "Rosalinda, this is a sewer! But there's no time to explain that, we got to get out of here, the place is about to explode!"

Tails did not like the sound he thought he heard. For the first time, Rosalinda did not say something, but nodded. "Follow me; I'll get you to an exit in time!"

She ran through the halls swiftly, and Tails had found hope in his heart once more. But the feeling of heat did not happen, nor did the sounds of explosions and screams.

Rosalinda climbed up a ladder leading to the exit. The light! "Come on, slowpoke!" She called down to him. To her, this was just another adventure.

Tails quickly climbed out of the hole, and sealed the entrance. But he had a bad feeling that would hardly help.

"Get as far away as you can!" He shouted to her.

But they had hardly ran a step when everything seemed to go up into flames. The entrance's seal flew off into the air, the rocks around it fell down into the depths. And when Tails looked at the city, looming so far away…

The city was in ruins. His world was in ruins. And his heart was broken within the wreckage.

**A/N: There's one last thing for this story. Just one last thing… (The city, the city, the… no!)**


	10. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

**A/N: Did you think I'd end it happily ever after? I was going to, but then again, this is a tragedy! **

**Finally, an epilogue for those who have waited so long…**

Three Days Later…

Tails had destroyed everything. The land would heal the survivors of the explosion, most likely those who lived in the countryside would help fix it, but Tails would have none of it. Through destruction he had created an amount of guilt that would break down as slowly as a mountain.

He only sat in his gloom. All of his friends were dead, he had broken Sonic's wish; he had killed Amy rather than protected her, and he had failed his wife, and failed to break the curse of the star-crossed. Failed, failed, failed! Each failed was marked with a fist against his own leg.

Misery needs company. Yet Rosalinda offered way too much of it, and Tails left the forest, saying goodbye to his good but annoying friend. He wanted to return home, to look upon the wreckage, and feel his shame, before leaving it forever behind him.

Amy and Cosmo, who saw the city explode with their own eyes, were in shock, and grieved at the fact that Tails was probably dead amongst the wreckage.

Shadow, who had delayed the missile from launching for as long as he could, added power to the missile while he did so. By the time he realized this, it was too late to take away the power, and he would die, destroying the city, and forever making Tails feel ashamed for something that was not his fault.

When Tails finally returned to his home three days later… he was surprised to see that his lab and his plane were all still intact. He looked at his plane, and knew he wanted to fly away.

Three days later, when Amy and Cosmo saw the old Tornado (Tornado 2, to be exact) flying through the air, they were shocked again. When Tails saw two familiar figures waving up to him excitedly, he fainted at the controls.

The plane crashed safely, and Cosmo could not help but laugh at her husband as he opened his eyes, smiling up at her, even though his mistake cost so much…

Through all the destruction, all the chaos and death, the two had defied the curse of the star-crossed, when so many others had fallen from it.

From a terrible thing, rises a wonderful miracle.

And though their hearts would heal in time, Tails would forever bear the weight of his actions, and Amy would forever shun her pink dress, wearing black to the day of her death, calling herself Sonic's widow, though the two never married. And Cosmo? She would find happiness, but in her garden, one would always notice that there were only red poppies to be found. Red poppies and hellebores, both flowers signifying death and sadness, though poppies themselves can signify life and love. But no matter what, she and Tails would always be together through every storm and whirlwind.

When Tails finally took his mentor's place as a hero, years later, visiting Sonic's grave one day, he recalled his past. Dark and terrible as it may have been, there was always a beacon of light. The city's recovery was amazing; its rewards it took in afterwards were even more marvelous.

Through this part of his life, Tails never forgot that his fate was his alone, and no forecasted predestined doom could alter that. Not with Love's power always by his side… Always.

**A/N: And that…. is the end.**

**Sayonara! **


End file.
